"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Get a real job, keep the wind to your back
And the sun on your face
All the immediate unknowns are better
Than knowing this tired and lonely fate
Does he love you?
Does he love you?
Will he hold your tiny face in his hands?
I guess it's spring; I didn't know
It's always seventy-five with no melting snow
A married man, he visits me
I received his letters in the mail twice a week
And I think he loves me
And when he leaves her
He's coming out to California
I guess it all worked out
There's a ring on your finger
And the baby's due out
You share a place by the park
And run a shop for antiques downtown
And he loves you, yeah, he loves you
And the two of you will soon become three
And he loves you, even though
You used to say you were flawed if you weren't free
Let's not forget ourselves, good friend
You and I were almost dead
And you're better off for leaving
Yeah, you're better off for leaving
Late at night, I get the phone
You're at the shop sobbing, all alone
Your confession is coming out
You only married him, you felt your time was running out
But now you love him and your baby
At last you are complete
But he's distant and you found him
On the phone, pleading, saying
"Baby, I love you, and I'll leave her
And I'm coming out to California"
Let's not forget ourselves, good friend
I am flawed if I'm not free
And your husband will never leave you
He will never leave you for me
And the sun on your face
All the immediate unknowns are better
Than knowing this tired and lonely fate
Does he love you?
Does he love you?
Will he hold your tiny face in his hands?
I guess it's spring; I didn't know
It's always seventy-five with no melting snow
A married man, he visits me
I received his letters in the mail twice a week
And I think he loves me
And when he leaves her
He's coming out to California
I guess it all worked out
There's a ring on your finger
And the baby's due out
You share a place by the park
And run a shop for antiques downtown
And he loves you, yeah, he loves you
And the two of you will soon become three
And he loves you, even though
You used to say you were flawed if you weren't free
Let's not forget ourselves, good friend
You and I were almost dead
And you're better off for leaving
Yeah, you're better off for leaving
Late at night, I get the phone
You're at the shop sobbing, all alone
Your confession is coming out
You only married him, you felt your time was running out
But now you love him and your baby
At last you are complete
But he's distant and you found him
On the phone, pleading, saying
"Baby, I love you, and I'll leave her
And I'm coming out to California"
Let's not forget ourselves, good friend
I am flawed if I'm not free
And your husband will never leave you
He will never leave you for me
Lyrics submitted by sonics222
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Fast Car
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